Novel style:

I have done a post and reply, so hopefully all is covered. Notes in gold explain.

Written in third person, past tense. With this style you are expected to be good at writing and quite intuitive with regards to what other players are intending. You have minimum control over your own character, but more control over the plot as a whole than with any other style.

"Who Counsels the Counselor? -title of post for easy identification, different ships have different rules about this
[Previous post was "The Dynamics of Being Captain"] - title of previous post

-------------------- - separates sections of the post

Stardate: 2360.1130 - stardate.time

Setting: USS WHATEVER, corridor - location

Betty walked down the corridor, she was in a hurry, she had a meeting with the captain and was late. As she was walking she didn’t see where she was going and bumped into Spivik, her Vulcan Colleague. “Oh sorry!” she said exasperated.

Spivik raised one eyebrow. “No need for concern”

She smiled thankfully, **how stupid can you be?** - shows thoughts

Spivik looked concerned as a Vulcan can, “Are you alright ensign?”. Spivik didn’t give her time to answer as he remembered, “The Captain is in your office, he is not happy.”

As she headed off he called after her, “Maybe you need some meditation? I’m free later on today.”

However, he hadn’t actually expected her to accept

She nodded and headed off in the opposite direction.

-------------------- - separates sections of the post
Stardate: 2360.1135 - stardate.time
Setting: USS WHATEVER, corridor - location

Betty entered and the captain turned to look at her.

"Ensigh, you're late."

"I'm sorry sir, I... "

"I called you here to speak to you about your duties as a counselor. I think you've been neglecting them."

Once the captain had left Betty thought about what he had said, could he have been right?
She needed to talk to Spivik.

-------------------

NM: - non-mission message

Spivik: over to you

Captain: Hope I did okay with your character

the reply:

"the meld"" -title of post for easy identification, different ships have different rules about this
[Previous post was "Who Counsels the Counselor?"] - title of previous post

---------------
Stardate: 2360.1700

Setting: USS WHATEVER, Spivik Quarters

Spivik was sitting in his quarters contemplating the mysteries of the universe when he suddenly heard his COM badge bleep

=/\= Smith to Spivik =/\= - shows communication over COMM

he tapped his badge, =/\= Spivik here. What can I do for you ensign? =/\=

There was a brief pause before she answered =/\= I think I’ll take you up on your offer. I think I need to meditate =/\=

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Stardate: 2360.1800

Setting: USS WHATEVER, Spivik Quarters

Spivik had decided, after many unsuccessful attempts at getting Betty to meditate properly, that maybe he should mind meld with her to find out what the problem was.

“Ensign Smith,” he said, “I believe that the best way I can help you is a mind meld”

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NM:

Betty: Care to take this further? ;)

Things to remember when posting:

Start off each post with an objective: it will help make your post mean something in the ultimate story. No one is going to want to read loads of stuff that has nothing to do with the plot and doesn't get anywhere, in the above post the objective accomplished is that Spivik learns about Betty's past.
Try to involve as many PCs as possible: this gets your character into the social swing of things
Don't rely on others: if you want your character to become involved in the story you can't rely on others to get them involved, YOU have to get them involved because they're YOUR character.
Always think of others: don't write for someone else's character unless you're sure how that character will react. respect others and they will respect you.
Keep on friendly terms with the captain: this doesn't mean suck up, it means don't pick fights unnecessarily or argue with his or her decisions. Remember what the name 'captain' implies. IC, OOC and NM!
USE A SPELL CHECKER or dictionary: Nothing's more embarrassing then a typo, well maybe some things, but not many.
Use a thesaurus: the more interesting your posts are - the more people will want to read them
Develop your character: drop little insights into your character here and there so that you keep other players interested in him/her, however, make sure that they don't come out of the blue and have nothing to do with the story.
Don't play hero: Nobody likes a winner, rather a slow beginner. Actually, the more faults your character has the more people seem to like him/her... just don't get too melodramatic!
Be tactful: if you're nice others are more likely to like you and your character.
Unless you know everyone in the group has HTML supported e-mail, use plain text for your posts: this is just so that it's readable by everyone. You don't want to send a great post and then have no-one able to read it!

OK. Now what?

Subscribe to a group (see: what is a RPG), find out your group's address and particular posting style, talk (write) to your captain and then start posting!

NOTES:

Don't get a fright when your post comes back to you, unless it says 'mail delivery system failed' it's nothing to worry about. Many groups work on posting lists such as Yahoo groups or Topica. Once you subscribe your name goes on a list and the posting list will send all mail sent to the group's address to everyone - including you.
In order to join to the group you need to subscribe to the mailing list. I don't know about others but if the group is on Yahoo then you need a yahoo account to do this. Here's how you get one. It's a bit of reading so you might want to print it - that's why it's in black and white. I'm sure the others work the same way.
Read descriptions of the group before you join it. If you find out that you don't like it later you can't exactly say 'So long, I hate your group!', well you can, but you might never end up being able to RPG again. The RPG world is very small.